Cat Tip of the Day: Add a Snap when you need it!

[SteveD]

Ever wish you could add a snap on your line or on your lure to make changing lures or leaders quicker and easier? Ever wish you had the flexibility to add a snap to a swivel or a 3-Way swivel? Ever wanted to add a snap to a sinker or bottom bouncer so you can change weights easily? Here is a way to do that quickly and easily.

If you start looking at all the various pieces of terminal tackle available to the fisherman you can find many ways to adapt that equipment to your personal needs or desires. I do a lot of night fishing so I am always looking for ways to make life easier to fish in the dark. Most cat guys don’t trust a lot of terminal tackle because they fear it makes a weak point in their hook to line connections. I’ve been chasing cats long enough now that I have developed confidence in things that have worked for me and that I’ve seen stand up to big fish. I’ve used a lot of swivels and snaps in a lot of different combinations and I’m not worried about them failing me on a big fish.

One of the things that has made fishing in the dark easier for me has been the use of snaps to make quick and easy leader or sinker changes. I primarily use Duolock snaps because you can unsnap them all the way around into an “Open” position and then add them to swivels or hooks or line connections and then reassemble them back to their original configuration. The picture below shows a Duolock snap in the open position and you can see how you can just slide it onto a hook, swivel, or sinker to add a snap where needed. Just close the snap back into its closed position and you are ready to go. I have never had one of these snaps fail on me as long as it was rated for the amount of stress I was expecting to place on it. I normally use a size 6 for catfishing situations.

This chart will give you some information on snap sizes and strength ratings to match them to your fishing situations:

Size/ Strength/ Length

1/ 20 lb/ ½”

2/ 25 lb/ 5/8”

3/ 50 lb/ ¾”

4/ 60 lb/ 1”

5/ 85 lb/ 1 ¼”

6/ 150 lb/ 1 ½”